bLink 34

Maybe it's the fact that 30 approaches me on winged feet, but lately I've been visiting the trappings of my youth. For example, A Tribe Called Quest has been on permanent repeat in the iPod. Strangely, I never really listened to them when they were at the height of their popularity, and I take it as a sign of my increasing maturity that I now consider them amongst the greatest musicians to grace planet Earth. I mean, who else could come up with a line like "the ladies sweat the style like the squirrels sweat the nuts?"

And so it was that I found myself at The Games People in Gastown, Vancouver, sorting through a stack of board games, when I saw it: Travel Lite Brite. Again, I never had Lite Brite when I was a kid - my home was Lite Brite-less. So I can only attribute my recent affinity for it to a longing for a time and place, rather than a direct memory of an enjoyable pastime. The travel version isn't nearly as enjoyable as the original one, but it makes for a nice substitute until one can, and indeed will, be purchased.

If you're a doubting...er...Thomas, and do not believe in the majesty of Lite Brite, once again the Internet has provided a test. Online Lite Brite is in no way comparable to the real thing, but it does give you a sense of its glorious and awesome power. There is something fundamentally satisfying, one might say on a primal level, about using coloured pegs and light to create a sailboat or clown's head. The entire family can then gather in its warm, life-giving glow.

Thom Wong is a law student who spends an unreasonable amount of time online. His 40 bLinks column runs every Tuesday and Thursday on The Tyee.